In the news

Dunne weighs in on intern

Missing intern Chandra Levy is dead, and shortly after she went missing April 30, her body was dumped in the Atlantic Ocean, Vanity Fair sleuth Dominick Dunne says.

The New York Post reports that Dunne was a guest on Westwood One radio host Laura Ingraham's show Thursday night.

Dunne said he was working with the FBI on the case and has "uncovered new leads" that show Levy may have stumbled into a ring of prostitution, sex slaves and Middle Eastern sheiks in Washington, D.C., which might have contributed to her disappearance.

Dunne also said Rep. Gary Condit is still under suspicion.

Dunne said he was contacted this fall by a world-renowned American "horse whisperer," someone who helps prepare racehorses for Middle Eastern businessmen. He said the horse expert met an impeccably dressed, well-connected Middle Eastern man this summer who claimed to have seen Levy being put on a plane after her disappearance.

Described as a "procurer" of young women for Middle Eastern diplomats in Washington, the man told the horse expert that on or after April 30, he saw Levy being put on a private jet, surrounded by five men, "but she wasn't walking."

The FBI, which had described the case as cold, is working to track down the names and whereabouts of the individuals in Dunne's tale.

Geraldo: I'll resign if panel says I'm unethical

Geraldo Rivera is offering to resign from Fox News -- if a panel of media analysts decides he did anything unethical in Afghanistan, the Washington Post reports.

Rivera acknowledges he made an "honest mistake" by saying he was at a "friendly fire" incident in which three American soldiers were killed in a U.S. bombing raid. He was hundreds of miles away, near what he maintains was a second such incident in which two or three Afghan opposition fighters were killed.

Rivera denounces the Baltimore Sun TV writer who reported the mistake, saying: "The whole basic premise that I lied or was dishonest is absurd on its face, and were it any other reporter, would not even pass the laugh test. This is the most false, hideously absurd allegation I've ever had leveled against me."

Sun writer David Folkenflik says he was "very careful" in framing the story and could find no military official or journalist in the region who could confirm Rivera's account.

Rivera also accuses CNN of "malignant hypocrisy" for covering the dispute, saying anchor Aaron Brown's report "made me want to puke." Brown says he is "comfortable" with "a fair airing of what I believe is a legitimate controversy.."

Rivera says he has unaired footage of the carnage and that if a journalistic panel backs him up, Folkenflik should resign.

"The time has come to stop the Geraldo-bashing," he said.

'Laramie Project' to open Sundance Film Festival

HBO's adaptation of the play The Laramie Project will be the opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Jan. 10.

The Laramie Project is an account of the reactions in Laramie, Wyo., to the murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.

"It's an incredible honor," director Moises Kaufman said.

Shepard, who was gay, died Oct. 12, 1998, after he was lured from a bar, kidnapped, tied to a fence and beaten with the butt of a gun. Two men are serving life in prison for the murder.

The movie's cast includes Christina Ricci, Laura Linney, Jeremy Davies, Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo and Camryn Manheim.

The film tentatively is scheduled to air on HBO on March 23. It won't be released in theaters but will be featured in other festivals around the world.

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